The Taliban (or students of Islam)
If only politicians in the west would read a few books they could save us and the world a lot of grief. This book by Ahmed Rashid would be a good place to start. Every country that has stuck their nose into the business of Afghanistan has had it bloodied. Since the invasion by Taimur (Tamerlane) in 1405 Afghanistan has been a Muslim country. The Buddhists were purged and converted. Their statues have been defaced with bullets and mortars. It has been a launching platform for Muslim invasions into India and China. What was once the Silk Road has now become China's Silk Railroad to rich Muslim countries to the west. The British and the Russians played what is referred to as 'the Great Game' using Afghanistan when it benefited them by throwing loads of cash at the many rival factions in the region. The British supported the Iron Amir Abdul Rehman's rise to power (1880-1901) and thousands of non-Pashtuns were massacred and many others who rebelled were crushed as well. The Afghans broke from Britain in 1919 and eventually Sardar Mohammed Daud became president. In 1975 in effort to stamp out an Islamic fundamentalist group they fought a Peshawar that was backed by Pakistan. Daud turned to Russia who began pouring tens of thousands of dollars into the country during the cold war and the US got in the act as well. The US soon found themselves supporting the anti-Soviet Mujaheddin and somewhere around 1.5 million Afghans were killed. When the Soviet troops pulled out in 1989 the Mujaheddin morphed into the Taliban. Amidst all of this there has been struggles between the Shiites of Iran and the Sunnis from Saudi Arabia.
9/11 was a wake up call to Americans that the warlord's of Islam were up to no good in Afghanistan. As the author points out warlords are not known for building schools, hospitals or any civil structure of development. The mindset of Muslim warlords is that Islam will fix everything. While western nations throw money at social relief programs the warlords quickly find a way to claim it for themselves. Saudi Arabia sent millions of Qurans to the region and Wahabbi mullahs brainwashed the young people and used the Taliban like school boys. In 1996 after the capture of Kabul strict sharia rules were put in place against anything western, music, kite flying, and pretty much anything that had to do with entertainment. Women were force into hijabs and forbidden to wear anything fashionable or ornamental with the threat of hell fire or good beating by the Religious Police (Munkrat). Men were no longer allowed to cut their beards. So this is the hell America has been trying to reform for the past twenty years without mentioning Islam.
